James Murdoch: Honestly I had no idea…

James Murdoch faced additional questioning by the UK’s Parliamentary Committee investigating phone hacking on Thursday. The Deputy COO of News Corp didn’t change his testimony from previous hearings and continues to claim he only recently became aware of the extent of hacking.

With over 16 arrests and new revelations that a private investigator was hired to tail lawyers representing phone hacking victims, his testimony sounded at best, disingenuous.

While he may have won the battle he is losing the war. Claiming ignorance is sounding absurd. Legal concerns continue to drive strategy. It’s time to sound believable and start talking common sense.

The PR Verdict: “C Minus” for James.

His strategy has no obvious exit. Either finally concede that News Corp’s unofficial policy on hacking was “don’t ask don’t tell” or admit a complete management failure that gave carte blanche to employees drunk with power and blank checks. Either way someone has to own the mess.